1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the testing of telecommunications cable having a plurality of conductors. More specifically, the present invention relates to the testing of a plurality of such cables, which radiate from a patch panel to respective termination points in a building.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cable testers are used to verify the electrical integrity of multiconductor telecommunications cable and their terminations. Such cables include, but are not limited to, telephone and computer cables which radiate from a service closet to offices and other rooms or locations in a building for individual telephone or computer service. Generally, cables of this variety have an even-numbered plurality of conductors forming at least one pair, although they may alternatively have an odd-numbered plurality of conductors. For example, the commonly used “Category 5” and “Category 6” telecommunications cables have eight conductors forming four pairs.
The cable testers themselves generally have two cable-testing modules, one of which is connected to each end of the cable being tested, for sending and receiving electric signals along the conductors in the cable. One, and possibly both, of the modules has a readout display which indicates the electrical integrity of each conductor in the cable to the technician conducting the test.
Typically, the service closet referred to above houses a patch panel where connections to the cables radiating therefrom may be made. In order to test a cable, one of the two cable-testing modules is connected thereto at the patch panel, while the other of the two cable-testing modules is attached to its termination elsewhere in the building. The technician conducting the test then checks the readout display on one of the two modules to verify the electrical integrity of the conductors making up the cable.
Heretofore, it was necessary for the technician, or technicians, carrying out the tests to return to the service closet to connect one of the two cable-testing modules to another cable at the completion of one test, and then to proceed to the termination of the latter cable to complete its testing. It will immediately become apparent to the reader that many time-consuming trips between the service closet and terminations, possibly remote or on different floors of the building, by the technician may be required to complete the testing of all of the cables. While the use of a second technician, who remains in the service closet and connects one of the two cable-testing modules to another cable at the completion of each test, while the original technician proceeds from one termination to the next and communicates, perhaps by cell phone or walkie-talkie, with the second technician, may speed up the testing process, it requires the availability of a second technician, entailing additional costs.
Clearly, there is a need in the telecommunications industry to improve the efficiency of and to reduce the costs associated with the testing of telecommunications cable. The present invention provides a response to this need.